Wednesday, March 05, 2008

The book - our favourite technology

A new survey reveals that of all the media technologies available, we are most attached to the humble book. Television, newspapers, blogs and social networks all lost out to the ancient gadget made from chunks of processed dead trees.

As Ars Technica points out, this suggests those peddling e-book readers such as Amazon's Kindle face an uphill struggle. Of the 1,608 British people surveyed 53% said they would "never" or would "hate" to stop reading paper books, but only 32% said the same of TV.

But could the lack of viable alternative to books be the main problem here? Or are we really psychologically wedded to the book?

E-book readers are not great to use at the moment, due to a mixture of clunky hardware and restrictive controls on the files they use. By comparison, television competes with a variety of devices that allow access to similar content.

I've moved to eBooks about five or six years ago on PDAs and now on my smartphone, and only buy paper books when they're not available for purchase electronically. It's just a question of getting into it, after a while you won't feel any difference, as it's the content thats important in the end. I love the convenience of having what I'm reading always with me, ready to fill some unscheduled wait or keep me company if I have lunch by myself, besides the reduced cost of eBooks.

Yes it'd be more interesting if the survey included the question of "Have you tried an e-reader?", because most people have probably not ever seen an e-reader, and use their experience with computer monitors to imagine using one.

I must say I really like my eBook reader as well, but there are still cases where I really like a normal book. For instance I find it easier to look up stuff in a well known physical book, than in a (well known) eBook, because I like the physical navigation of leafing through a book.

I've tried an ebook and frankly at the level of sophistication at the moment I'd pay (and do) a premium to own a paper book instead.

It's batteries don't go flat, I can read it in most any light.If I loose it, it's £5 - £15 worth. It's not worth mugging me for on the bus or tram.It's resilient to water (in that I can read it in the bath without fear of rendering it inoperable).There's no upfront purchase cost of several hundred quid, and I've never felt eye strain from staring at a small book for too long.

Until all these myriad advantages of paper are overcome, maybe by flexible e-ink, waterproof, lightweight and long battery life devices the book will reign supreme.

The kindle as the latest example of a reader is doomed to abject failure.

Issues they still need to work on: 1) Buyers' rights to lend out or resell their e-books. (Amazon's Kindle e-book system allows neither.)2) Authors' fears of rampant piracy (although this has been an issue since 1500).3) Initial cost of dedicated e-readers is still too high. We don't need all the gee-whiz stuff. Just get them down to $100.4) Form factor. Still fixed and clunky. 5) Permanence. Will e-books be readable in 30 years?6) Price. E-books are still way too expensive, considering that they don't have to be printed, shipped, or stocked.7) Black/white or grayscale only. Most modern textbooks have lots of color. (However, it's usually not full color. A reader could do quite well with only three colors plus grayscale.)8) Readability under a wide range of lighting conditions.9) Viruses and other OS problems.10) Battery life. Why aren't these solar powered? Cover the back with cheap solar cells. Recharge by leaving it out on the table face-down.11) Loss, theft, or breakage of e-reader results in loss of all e-books. Amazon's registration system is a great safeguard. (But why don't they use it to allow trading, selling, and lending, for a small fee? And will it still be around in 30 years?)

If I remember well was 1992 or 1993. At the Frankfurt Book Fair publishers were talking about "The year of the e-book". The ground floor was just about e-books technology and publishers. Still we are waiting for such year, and for good reasons. Books are still the best technology for consciousness and inner processing in a focused way. More on http://www.indranet.org/words-and-silences/

In a flat, books take up a disproportionate share of space. Also, they are a burden when traveling. The ebook is a portable library rather than merely a single book substitute. It will prevail because of the increased convenience it offers, especially as the capacity of the reader rises and as the quality of the display improves to accommodate different type faces and high resolution colour graphics

I don't think that contemporary eBook readers can substitute traditional paper books for all reasons mentioned above. In my opinion it could be more productive to invest time and money into a technology that will be able to substitute paper itself.

As with many new media, the ultimate outcome will probably be that these two will co-exist. The benefits differ between these media and different people will appreciate what most suits their circumstances and preferences. There is room for both in the world.

"C.S. said... In a word: public libraries. I would be more inclined to read ebooks (and have at times) if you could have a wide selection of FREE and POPULAR/NEW fiction and non-fiction like at the public library."

I consider this problem as one of the main issues holding back eBook introduction. It would be interesting to compare overall cost (publishing , distribution to libraries etc) for eBooks and conventional books.

They should invent a system where authors could create their works and local governments would pay a one-time fee to house these in databases. Consumers could visit these government database centers and borrow the work for a set period of time for free or for a small one-time charge. When the consumer wants to read another work, they would return their copy to the local database and could borrow another one. These database facilities would be called libraries.

If libraries were conceptualized today for the first time, the publishing companies would freak out over "copyright protection" or some other euphemism for their greed.

"If libraries were conceptualized today for the first time, the publishing companies would freak out over "copyright protection" or some other euphemism for their greed."

Yes, and it's rather scary to think of it like that. The main problem I have with ebooks is who "owns" them. I know when I buy a book I can lend it to a friend, donate it to charity, or chose to purchase it second hand, but an ebook will never really be mine. I just have "permission" to read it.

My Amazon Kindle generally offers books at 30-50% lower cost (including shipping & tax) than paper. I also get to read through the first chapter for free and only pay if I want to read more - and get the rest of the book in less than a minute. Classics in the public domain are free from the web. I am buying more books and don't buy books that I am unhappy with - despite the lower cost per book my total spending on books has increased.

I am more than happy to give up my ability to sell or give away a book for the lower cost and free samples of ebooks.

Keep in mind that the driving force in the book business (non-text book) are consumers who frequently buy new books - not libraries nor used book store.

Kindle eBooks are great for consumers who are frequent buyers of new books - but they hurt buyers of used books - by reducing the supply.

The DRM-free e-book market is beginning to show signs of life. For two examples, check out www.ck12.org and www.smashwords.comIn a few years, the e-book reader will be under a hundred bucks, and the choice of free and unrestricted content will dwarf that of the DRM'd books.

I don't think that ebooks are meant to replace paper books. There are some books that I would always want paper copies of. But there are other books that I would prefer to read in ebook format. Ebooks are a lot cheaper, and since I read a lot of sci-fi, it makes more sense to buy them as ebooks, because I read through them so fast and I have run out of bookshelf space a long time ago.

And ebooks offer exciting new possibilities that print books dont offer - for instance, Moxyland, the first ebook with a soundtrack was recently released by Electric Book Works - see www.electricbookworks.com

I'm looking forward to seeing the exciting things that will still be done with ebooks.

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